On 11 May, the panel decided to grant three Southland councils a full hearing day.

On 9 May, the hearing panel granted a deadline extension to Bernadette and Alistair Hunt for filing their evidence-in-chief.

On May 3, the hearing panel granted a deadline extension to Chris Hansen (Ravensdown Ltd) for filing his evidence-in-chief.

On 27 April, the hearing panel granted a deadline extension for evidence in chief and rebuttal evidence from Federated Farmers.

On 13 April, the hearing panel decided to extend the deadlines for all submitters to lodge their evidence-in-chief and rebuttal evidence.

On 13 April, the hearing panel considered requests for an extension for lodging evidence by Fish & Game, Ngāi Tahu​ and Beef + Lamb as appropriate.

The section 42a report is an independent staff report that analyses all submissions and includes recommendations on how the proposed plan could be changed in response to the submissions.

Submitters wanting to speak must confirm their intention and availability no later than 24 April.

On 6 April, the hearing panel provided this notice of the hearing which includes an outline of procedural matters relating to the hearings.

On 28 March 2017, Rob van Voorthuysen agreed to Ngāi Tahu presenting their cultural evidence by way of videos and a piece of written cultural evidence.